NEC's $1.3 billion loss compared with a net profit of $341 million for the prior year. Sales for the company totaled $40.3 billion, slightly down from $40.5 billion the previous year.

A breakdown showed that NEC's electron devices group, which includes semiconductors, suffered a $440 million operating loss in the fiscal year just ended, while the information and communications systems sector had an operating profit of $991 million. Corporate expenses, including R&D costs, accounted for a $487 million operating loss.

Japan continued to be NEC's dominate market with $34.8 billion in sales last fiscal year, while overseas sales totaled $10.4 billion. Domestic operations generated $464 million in operating income, while overseas operations had $414 million in operating losses, according to the company's financial statement.

For Mitsubishi, the $365 million loss marked an improvement from the prior fiscal year when the company lost $875 million. Mitsubishi's year-end sales totaled $31.3 billion. The company projected sales in the current fiscal year would rise to $40 billion.

The loss includes a special $620 million charge for restructuring costs and lowering the underfunded liability in the employee pension plan.

Mitsubishi said operating profit from telecom systems, semiconductors, and electron devices groups had an $810 million operating loss for the fiscal year, which was greater than the $665 million operating loss a year earlier.